BIERFEST - OCTOBER 3rd

Followers of BB&T, the date has been vetted and set. October 3rd will be our first annual BIERFEST! In the vein of the famous Oktoberfest of Munich, we decided we need a Fall celebration of our own - for the end of the hellishly hot Texas summer! Good riddance to it.

We plan to have 4 beers on tap - our Coffee Porter, our Honeywheat and our latest creations - our new Irish Red and German Koelsch. Come getcha some! In return, we ask that you bring a dish. German food would fit the occasion but don't feel limited. Bring whatever floats your boat.

Comments, ideas, decorative contributions and suggestions will be appreciated.

So mark your calendars in permanent ink! October 3rd. BIERFEST at George & Steph's!

Norton's Grill & Pub - Atascocita, TX

Uggg, OMG. I'm whupped. George and I just finished cutting (YES, CUTTING) the oil filter off Fran's car. That bi*tch was stuck on there like no body's business. What a nightmare. Anywhoozle, this is supposed to be a bar review. So here goes....

Norton's Grill and Pub in Atascocita.... apparently there are a couple more around town. George was SUPPOSED to write a review for this bar about a month ago, but he slacked off a little too long so I stole the review. Actually he and I went there together for lunch today along with Dan (George's father-in-law). They've both been there a couple of times but this was my first.

Since we were there around noonish on a weekday, I can't really say from experience how busy the place gets or what the clientele was like. There just weren't that many people there today. But George and Dan tell me the place gets crazybusy on nights like Friday night when they show the UFC fights. Kinda glad I missed that. ;) But I suppose that's some sort of indicator that the place attracts decent business.

Anyway... our experience this time went something like this.... We picked a table from the many empties. The place is pretty big.... certainly not a hole-in-the-wall bar. Our waitress arrived. I didn't catch her name but apparently George has had her a few times and she was very nice. Unfortunately for her she had a migraine..... probably started when she saw George coming in. Lol. She still managed to do a fine job despite the headache. We ordered our beers.... Norton's has a pretty decent selection for a suburban bar. They had over 40 taps and a pretty decent number of bottles. We ordered a couple of Deschutes Black Butte Porters (or as we like to call them 'de S*hits Black Butts'). A nice microbrewed Porter from Oregon.

After wandering around checking out the bar, we ordered lunch. The menu is fairly standard bar food, nothing too shocking and the prices seemed appropriate, especially considering the large portions. Dan and George got the monster Buffalo Chicken sandwich (Serious freakin' HUGE.... the meat protrudes easily 2 inches out of either side of the bun) and I ordered the 'Double Burner-X Hot' garlic wings. Our waitress was nice enough to warn me that the sauce really isn't all that hot.... hence I went with the 'Double burner' yada yada yada wings. It took quite a while to get our food (G&D both tell me its normally MUCH more prompt). No biggy though. We had our beers and were in no hurry. We all were very happy with the food once it came out. Our waitress even noted that my wings were a bit sparse on sauce so she went back to the kitchen for more. I love a pro-active waitress!

I would say Norton's classifies as a sports bar. They have a decent number of flat screens positioned throughout the place without it being overwhelming. Being a relatively new bar, and in a suburb, its not what you would call 'brimming with character', but its clean and unobnoxious. A bit surprisingly, there are no pool tables or darts despite the large size of the bar. Good food, a good selection of beer and a good game on the tube is enough to keep one busy here though.

I definitely plan to be back. I think cupcake and I are in agreement that its our current fave of the pubs close to home. Not that that is saying much. Poor Kingwood/Humble/Atascocita. We live in a veritable pub wasteland up here, but we will keep a stiff upper lip and carry on. Norton's will certainly help.


The Brew Card

Atmosphere: 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10
Clientele: 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10
Beer selection: 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10
Food: 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10
Service: 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10
Prices: 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10
Stuff to do: 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10

Overall: 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10

BREW & 'QUE

Had to rub this in for Cupcake since he's man-handling his monkey at work today. Meanwhile I'm enjoying a few Coffee Porters and spending 15 hours hovering over the smoker pit. Brisket and ribs on the menu for tomorrow. You're welcome Georgey! ;)

Tun Tavern --- Atlantic City, NJ

Atlantic City, NJ…..Known for cahd playin’ and dice throwin’, but who woulda thought about a Brew-Pub? The Tun Tavern, located outside the Sheraton Convention Centa, just a few minutes walk from the casinos and outlet mall (The Walk).

NO, IT”S NOT JUST A TEXAS REVIEW BLOG…………..GEESHHHHHH

Anyway, back to the important stuff……BEER!!!!! Nice selection of beer on the board. You have everything from a light—“Golden Ale” to a full bodied—“Leather-Neck Stout”, round out that selection with their ass-kickin’ 9% abv. bahleywine—“Freedom Ale” and a seasonal Oktobafest—“Tunfest Lager”. I stahted out with the Stout…very creamy and tasty, followed it up with the Irish Red, which I found to be a little light-bodied, but otherwise a very tasty “Session” ale. It was here that the disappointment stahted. The very lovely bahtenda (one of many of the eye-catcha’s) asked the gentleman next to me if he wanted anotha Irish Red. “Yes, thank you”. She came back to tell him they were out and he ordered the stout. Next came me, “I’ll try the “All-American IPA”…..”I’m sorry, we’re out of that”. “Let me get this right, it’s Friday night and you’re already out of two ale styles going into the weekend”? “Yes, I know and if I run out of anotha, I will be embaressed”. OK, I ordered the “Devil Dog Pale”….which was excellent. So, I had planned on getting a growla of the Red and bringing it back to Texas so I could share with my bro and fellow blog admin guy (with nappy hair). I asked the bah cutie, “So, when I come back tomorrow, they should have anotha Irish Red tapped so I can take a growla home”? “No, the brewmasta doesn’t come in on the weekends”. Ah you freakin’ kidding me, it’s only FRIDAY? All weekend without 2 styles. POOR PLANNING DUDES!!!! I didn’t really yell at her, just in my simple mind.

Saturday evening, I go back to the TUN for a few more of their very descent brew. There’s a couple of those BIG Companies on tap for the other (ill informed) visitors. Here is where I give the KUDOS. The bah-HOT-tenda, came up and said, “Hey, how ah you? Will you be having the Irish Red again”? OMG, she remembered, afta seeing me once! Probably thought I was sexy! I said, “I thought you were out last night and the brewmasta wasn’t coming in”? “I’m not sure what happened, but they got more tapped”. Great news here and very smart on their part; I got the growla and myself and nappy-boy will be sampling it tomorrow.

If you’re up that way, definitely give it a STOP. The atmosphere is modern with brew vats and the brewing process explained. History of the TUN from Philadelphia is given and they are very sincere in their support of the US Marines as spelled out in TUN history (read it). You can expect musicians playing bah side or out on the deck on the weekends. Not much else going on unless you’re checking out the sports scene on the boob-tubes located around the bah. The food is typical Northern-American cuisine; serving up steaks, seafood, burgers, and traditional bah apps. There are also some great 2 for 1 dinner, drink and appetizer specials, depending on the day of the week. All this enjoyed with a mixed crowd of dudes and chicks, mostly late 20’s to 50’s. When all is said and done, before leaving, check out the merchandise shop and pick up a growler full of your tasty favorite, t-shirt, pint glass, etc. A nice addition of original colony history to this gambling, NJ shore city!!

Enjoy, as always, drink responsibly and Póg Mo Thóin!!!!

The Brew Card

Atmosphere: 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10

Clientele: 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10

Beer selection: 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10

Food: 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10

Service: 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10

Prices: 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10

Stuff to do: 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10

Overall: 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10